Chris Boucher Introduction

To celebrate the April 2009 DVD release of 1977 classic Image of the Fendahl, Kasterborous.com is proud to present here a rare interview with Tom Baker era scriptwriter Chris Boucher, also responsible for other Doctor Who classics Robots of Death and The Face of Evil. Gareth Kavanagh sets the scene…

Back in 2004 when we decided to bring back Black Scrolls in a mad blaze of new-series fuelled enthusiasm, interesting interviewees were high on the agenda. Chris Boucher fitted the bill for us in a number of ways.

Firstly, he’s at the heart of my favourite era, having written three of the most interesting Whos of Tom Baker – Whos that had burned themselves into my memories as a nipper. Secondly, he had a wickedly dry sense of humour and, most crucially I had his email address from a few years previously having bought his original Robots of Death scripts in an early Ebay auction (those were the days, Â£125 the lot!).

Having got our man, Steve Preston of Scrolls Towers cooked up some rigourous queries for Chris to consider and true to form he did not disappoint! We even get to know finally ‘who let the Doc out’ which has puzzled fans for years. Looking back at the interview, I’m proud we got Chris to open up like he did showing the world exactly how brilliant that dry, intelligent, brave, witty and challeging man is and what a tragedy it was we only ever got a handful of scripts off him. So settle back, take a deep breath and dive in to Chris Boucher’s definintive take on the masterpiece that is Image of Fendahl…